The St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival kicked off last night with a red carpet gala and the premiere of the film Sweet Angel Baby.
The festival, in its 35th year, runs from now to Saturday night.
Executive Director Jenn Brown says the event provides an opportunity to highlight under-represented voices in the film industry.
“The St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival is the biggest film festival in the province and the only industry opportunity to do that work at home and to get all the key decision makers from, quite frankly, all of Canada and beyond here. Netflix doesn’t do film festivals; they’re coming here. It’s such a gift to be able to get all these incredible people together, all of this talent and then connect them with talent here on the ground and just see what happens,” she said.
Filmmaker Mary Walsh, who has a show in this year’s event, says festivals like this encourage women to find their way into the film industry in the province.
“According to a recently released report from Germany, 77 per cent of all the creative jobs in the film industry in Canada are taken by men. And hopefully, through festivals like this, we will encourage and help grow more women,” said Walsh.